There are two types of players in fighting games: those who study each character's special moves in order to most effectively defeat their opponents, and those who just mash buttons. Brendan Main tests whether mashing is a viable strategy in fighting games both old and new.

It's easy to see how martial arts have affected videogames - games like Street Fighter and Tekken have mined the sport for inspiration for years. But you may not have realized how much videogames have given back to martial arts. Marshal Carper examines the symbiotic relationship between real-world and videogame fighting.

While most fighting games feature overblown characters with borderline magical abilities, one short-running series offered an unflinching view of weapon-based combat. Jonathan Palmer looks at Bushido Blade and what made the pair of PS1 sword fighting games so special.

Fighting games have experienced a slow but steady decline since their arcade heyday in the mid '90s - today's fighters are both too repetitive and too unwelcoming to newcomers. But one 2009 title offers some novel solutions to these problems. Robert Bevill takes a closer look at BlazBlue and what it can teach fighting game designers at large.